It's been 70 years exactly since the world was introduced to the murder mystery board game Cluedo – and players, audiences and punters around the world still haven't tired of the salient intrigue of a hidden kill. Fresh from the success of Star Wars: The Last Jedi, writer/director Rian Johnson is relishing the age-old genre and giving it a new spin with his upcoming whodunit Knives Out.

The stars are tumbling all at once in the first glimpses of the film, retelling a family gathering gone wrong. It's a birthday party like any other. It's all fun and games until somebody dies.

This somebody is Christopher Plummer as wealthy crime novelist Harlan Thombrey, the newly-turned 85-year-old who sees a bitter end in the company of his extended and eccentric family. Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon and Katherine Langford are all fellow Thombreys.

The shifty selection of pantomimic suspects faces two detectives: Sorry To Bother You's Lakeith Stanfield and a heavily comical Daniel Craig with a thick accent as Detective Benoit Blanc.

The Thombrey family in Rian Johnson's Knives Out

Johnson's filmography to date includes the 2012 sci-fi mind-puzzle Looper and neo-noir mystery Brick, which kickstarted his career in 2005. Knives Out promises slicing comedy and a playground of theatrical performances for an all-star cast to frolic in.

Familiarity could work in the film's favour here – with a solid backbone of a genre to rest a new story on, the road is clear for some fresh laughs within a surefire beloved ballpark. Plus, the mystery is well and truly alive. 'I have eliminated no suspects', Det. Blanc croons. Keep your eyes peeled this coming November to crack the case in cinemas yourself.